Chapter 8- Orders are Orders
"Koln, Koenigsburg, Karlsruhe," snapped Falke as he walked along the dock. The three Schiffmadchen named split off from the group gathered along the pier and trotted up to him. They rendered salutes.
"Ja, mein Herr?" said Koln.
"For this exercise, Bismarck will be the opposing force. You will simulate an attack on the Bismarck-" he nodded toward the vessel that could just be seen near the horizon, well outside the harbor "-using appropriate tactics."
They exchanged looks. "Herr Commandant," said Koln uncomfortably. "Three light cruisers would not stand a chance against Bismarck."
"Yes, I know." He faced outwards from the dock, looking to the west. "But three ship-girls?"
Looks of comprehension dawned on their faces. "So we will attack as ourselves, not as our ships?"
"Exactly."
"But the last admiral-"
"The last admiral was killed in action with the last of our conventional destroyers. I do not intend to suffer his fate." Falke gestured to Leipzig, who he had designated as his communications ship for the day. "Tell Bismarck that the exercise will begin imminently."
"Should I remind her to use blanks?" asked Leipzig.
Falke stared at her. "Do you think she will need reminding?"
"Well-"
"By all means, remind her." He turned back to the three light cruisers. "The same goes for you, of course. Blanks only for the guns and only practice torpedoes."
"Jawohl." With a final salute, they leaped into the water, Karlsruhe doing a little twirl out of sheer excitement.
Falke watched them go. When he judged them well out of hearing, he spoke again to Leipzig. "Tell Z1 she may attack when ready."
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"It doesn't seem fair," said Z23 to Z1.
They were hidden behind an abandoned cargo ship, one that had sprung a slow leak judging by its gradual list.
"It is not supposed to be fair," replied Z1. She peeked around the bow, seeing the three light cruisers headed towards Bismarck. "That is the nature of war."
"I suppose-"
"Get ready."
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Karlsruhe was overjoyed. The old admiral had almost never let them go with their rigging only- he had always insisted on manifesting their ships beforehand. She crested a wave, catching air as she came back down with a splash and a whoop.
"Focus," said Koln, wiping water off of her face. "This would be a dangerous attack if it were real."
"But it's not-"
"We must act as if it were," replied her more serious sister. "The Kommandant wishes us to be prepared."
"Because he cares for us?" asked Karlsruhe.
The other two sisters exchanged looks. "He cares that we are combat-capable," said Koenigsberg after a moment. "Now be quiet, we are coming into range-"
"Fire!" The shout came from their starboard side, as they were rounding an old cargo ship. Karlsruhe cried out as a dummy torpedo knocked her off her feet. Koenigsberg and Koln both barely dodged the torpedo spread. A series of gunshots cracked out from the two Ironblood destroyers who had appeared out of nowhere. Being blanks, of course, there were no shell splashes.
All the ship-girls slowed to a stop, looking at one another.
"How are we supposed to know if we were hit?" asked Koln. "We did not think this through."
"I know that I was hit," volunteered Karlsruhe groggily as she tried to stand up.
Z23 skated over to her and helped her up. "I think we would have hit you," she said haughtily. "We caught you by complete surprise."
"Yes, because this was not part of the exercise parameters," said Koln, annoyed. "Had we known-"
"Even if we had been hit, we are light cruisers and you are destroyers. Unless you hit us with torpedoes, it is doubtful your fire would sink us before our guns would finish you," pointed out Koenigsberg.
"Yes, but-"
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"What are they doing?" asked Falke.
"Bismarck says that it looks like they're arguing over who would have sunk whom," said Leipzig.
"Who would have- this is not cowboys and Indians. Tell them they are to continue the exercise!"
There was a pause as Leipzig got a faraway look on her face. In the distance, he saw the five ship-girls all turn to look at him. "They want to know what they're supposed to do."
"Fire at will, practice their aim. They are to ignore anything but a physical hit, such as a practice torpedo strike. This exercise is intended to practice tactics and acclimate them to the sound of the guns, not gunnery."
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"Kommandant says to ignore gunfire. He says you should only acknowledge physical strikes."
There was a long pause.
"Attacke!" shouted Z23, leaping at Koln.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"Is that what you meant, Herr Kommandant?"
They watched as the five ships went at each other with fists and rigging, quickly devolving into a scrum that then turned into a free-for-all.
"No," said Falke.
"Lord Bismarck wishes to know whether the exercise is to continue."
He sighed. "No, cancel the exercise. Tell everyone to meet in the briefing room for, well, debriefing." Falke turned and walked away.
He had taken this command eagerly, as the best way to strike back at the Sirens. Even so, he'd had no idea what to expect. Robots, perhaps, mere automatons with the bodies of young girls? Alien intelligences, inscrutable and enigmatic?
What he hadn't expected to find was that they acted, by and large, like young women. In retrospect, that probably should have been his first assumption.
"This assignment will be harder than I had imagined," he said to himself.
Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Karlsruhe leaned over to Leipzig. "Is he mad at us?"
They were all sitting around the large table in the conference room they used for briefings and debriefings. Two large maps adorned the north and east walls, one showing the Baltic and the other showing the coastline around Denmark and the lower Scandinavian peninsula. Red circles marked the scenes of Siren attacks.
There were a lot of red circles.
Leipzig shrugged in answer to Karlsruhe's question. "He wasn't happy. But I think he's more disappointed. He doesn't think we are taking the training seriously."
Koln, sitting next to Karlsruhe, sniffed. "Some of us aren't, that's for sure." She touched her black eye gingerly and glared at Z1.
"I think that we, if anything, took it too seriously," said Z1 when she saw the glare. "Just because you lost-"
"Silence." Bismarck strode into the room and walked to the head of the table. The rest of the ship-girls immediately sat up straighter and all conversation ended.
Bismarck clasped her hands behind her back and studied them. "The Kommandant will be along shortly. In the meantime, let us discuss the exercise today." She nodded at Z1. "We will start with you. How did you think the exercise went?"
The destroyer's eyes widened. She shrank under the battleship's attention. "Well, er, I think that, on the whole, and taking one thing with another, at this point in time-"
Bismarck cleared her throat.
"It could have gone better," squeaked Z1.
"How so?"
"I think the Kommandant's orders were clear in intention if not in detail," said Koln primly. "I saw no reason for the violent attack we received."
She wilted under Bismarck's sudden glare. "The violent attack? Koln, do you think that a Siren attack will be any less violent? You defended yourself poorly."
"But, but- she attacked me physically, hand-to-hand, not-"
"And if the Sirens do the same? We are warships, yes, but we are also human in form- just as many of the Sirens are. And humans train for hand-to-hand combat, yes? Therefore, you should be ready for any form of attack. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Lord Bismarck."
Before Z1 had a chance to look smug, Bismarck's glare fell back on her. "At the same time, Koln is correct. The Kommandant's orders should have been clear. I understood what he meant."
"What's the point of training if we aren't fighting, though?" burst out Z23.
All eyes fell on her.
She straightened. "I mean, I understand that practice shouldn't cause damage, but we will soon be in combat. Perhaps training should be more realistic. Even a little dangerous."
For a long moment Bismarck stared at her. "That's a good point," she said. "I will bring it up with the Kommandant. In the meantime, however, I expect more of you." She glanced at the clock on the wall. "The Kommandant will be here shortly. You will be courteous and- where is Deutschland?"
The other ships looked around, except for Prinz Eugen, who was leaning against a wall in the back as usual. "In her room," said the heavy cruiser. "She never attends briefings."
Bismarck's face went blank. "I see. I will deal with this later." She suddenly stood up straight as she saw Falke enter the room. "Achtung!"
"Stehen Sie befehl,"* said Falke as he entered, Feldwebel Scherer trailing him. He walked to the front of the room, standing aside courteously to allow Bismarck to take a seat with the others. "I would first like to apologize."
Eyebrows across the room shot up. "Herr Kommandant?" said Z23 questioningly.
"I was not as clear when I briefed you regarding this exercise as I should have been. I have considered your behavior and I believe it could well have been a misunderstanding. Therefore, I apologize for my lack of clarity.
"Sun Tzu said this. 'If words of command are not clear and distinct, if orders are not thoroughly understood, the general is to blame.'" He paced back and forth. "My words of command were not clear and distinct. However," he added, looking at each one in turn, "If the orders are clear, and the soldiers nevertheless disobey, it is the fault of their officers."
Bismarck looked a little pale. "Excuse me, Kommandant, but do you know the context in which those words were spoken?"
He looked at her grimly. "I do. Perhaps you will explain it to the others later."
"Ja, Herr Kommandant." She looked uneasy.
The other girls exchanged confused glances.
"One thing I have not taken into account is that, as warships, you have the basic knowledge needed to fight already in your heads. Therefore, only training in teamwork and tactics is really necessary. We have had enough training in that, I believe, to carry out a minor operation. On the job training, as the Americans like to say."
There were several surprised murmurs, quickly squelched by a hard look from Bismarck. "What is the plan, Kommandant?" she asked.
"We are going to attack a minor Siren fleet that has been blockading Kiel." He smiled a predatory smile. "Finally, we strike back at them."
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"Lord Bismarck?"
She turned to see Koln, with most of the rest of the ship-girls behind her, standing respectfully at attention. "Yes?"
"Lord Bismarck, would you explain to us what you meant by the context of Sun Tzu's remarks?"
Bismarck regarded her thoughtfully. She considered just telling the cruiser to look it up herself, but- Koln would, but most of the others would not.
"Sun Tzu was tested on his theories of commanding soldiers by a warlord named Ho Lu," she said in a lecturing tone. "To test this, the warlord asked him to train a group of concubines to march in formation."
"What are concubines?" Z23 whispered to Koln. Her face went read.
"They're women who, um...I'll explain later."
Ignoring them, Bismarck continued. "So Sun Tzu explained to the concubines how to march in formation. Then, he gave the command. The women just started laughing and did not follow his commands. That was when he gave the pronouncement that the Kommandant just quoted. 'If words of command are not clear and distinct, if orders are not thoroughly understood, the general is to blame.'"
"Oh, I see. But why were you-"
"Let me finish." Bismarck's voice was mild, but Koln was silent immediately. "So Sun Tzu once again clearly explained the commands. When he gave the orders, they again started laughing and did not obey. He then said something additional."
'If words of command are not clear and distinct, if orders are not thoroughly understood, the general is to blame. If the orders are clear, and the soldiers nevertheless disobey, it is the fault of their officers.'"
"Okay..."
"To emphasize this, he took the two head concubines and had them beheaded," continued Bismarck.
To the suddenly pale and shocked faces in front of her, she added, "After that, the concubines performed flawlessly."
They all jumped as Falke strode past, Feldwebel Scherer and a half dozen military police trailing him. They walked purposefully past, almost trotting. The ship-girls huddled in on themselves and watched them as they disappeared around a corner.
"Where are they going?" said Koenigsberg to no one in particular.
"That's the direction of Deutschland's room," said Bismarck softly. She looked at the others. "You are dismissed." She then walked quickly away in the same direction as the Kommandant.
*"At ease".
A/N: In case anyone is wondering, I tend to use more German terms than, for example, Japanese because I actually know a fair amount of (basic) German. I know a few Japanese words ("arigato", "konichiwa", and maybe a few others) but am at sea with, for example, Japenese honorifics- I don't exactly understand when to use -san versus -sama, for example, particularly in a military context. Any assistance in the comments with that and other Japanese terms would be most helpful.
This chapter is a bit shorter than I intended, but I ended up at a pretty good stopping place. As usual, I intend to have at least two chapters published over the weekend.